Monday, December 27, 2010

The gift I made for Chookyblue'sSecret Santa Christmas Swap went all the way to Loulee in the Isle of Man (her blog is called Manxgirl)..... Lou is a Knitter and once I found that out I knew exactly what I wanted to make her. A while ago I'd spotted a lovely Knitting project pouch and jounal designed by the very talented Lisa from "A Spoonful of Sugar" and I'd been itching to make it!

Loulee's favourite colour is blue.... and I just love how it turned out in these nice soft colours:

This one shows my new labels that my very clever Sister designed....aren't they great??

I was a bit nervous about stitching through the carboard for the dividers.......

but it worked out really well!

Loulee loved her pressie and her hubby was delighted with the jar of vegemite I included in her parcel!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Today we did a bit of a Secret Santa Swap in the office..... some of the men can be a bit tricky to buy for but I remembered seeing a picture of some "Reinbeer" on someone's blog only a week or so ago (I can't for the life of me remember who's blog it was).

Anyway.... here's my version of the Reinbeer, aren't they cute?

You can just see the little bags of m&m's that I tucked in the middle:

They were definately a hit and I can see myself making them again .....

Dzintra was delighted with her parcel and I've really enjoyed exchanging emails with her since the big secret was unveiled.... the only thing I regret is not making two of those couch companions at the same time!

Friday, December 17, 2010

Last night was the Club Quilt Christmas Party....... A lovely night with a good turn-up of Club Quilt ladies, great food, great company and more importantly PRESSIES!

Most of us made a handmade something to include in the swap.... there were so many beautiful things but unfortunately I didn't take my camera.... If you pop over to the Club Quilt blog I'm sure you'll be able to check them out over the next few days!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

This afternoon I finally managed to get the kids teacher pressies done..... and just in the nick of time since it's the last day of school tomorrow!

Miss 11 has two teachers.... so I made a jewellery pouch for her female teacher and some rocky road for her male teacher (Men can be so tricky sometimes!). I also made a jewellery pouch for Master 8's teacher.

There are six little pockets on the inside to keep all that bling tangle-free and protected!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Well now that the SSCS parcel I sent has arrived safely at it's destination (although not without a couple of customs queries), I can finally tell you that my parcel was sent all the way to Loulee in the Isle of Man.... you can checkout her lovely blog "Manxgirl" here!

These are the ornaments I sent, which have already been unwrapped
and are hanging on Lou's tree:

Friday, December 10, 2010

On Christmas day last year I started reading Twilight.... not because it was something I was all that interested in but because I wanted to see what all the hype was about and I wanted to check it out before I let my 11 year old read it. To be honest, I thought I'd hate it so you can imagine my surprise when I thoroughly enjoyed it and finished all four books in the series in about two weeks! It was nice to make time to read again which is something I haven't done much of since having children. I decided to challenge myself to see how many books I could read in the year and promptly gave up watching TV of an evening in favour of reading...... I started out thinking 20 books in a year would be great but a couple of months into my reading challenge I set the number at 50, and last night I started reading book no.51!

So...This is what I've read:

1) Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

2) New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

3) Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

4) Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

5) The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

6) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

7) Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

8) City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

9) City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

10) City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

11) The Naming by Alisson Croggon

12) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

13) The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

14) The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

15) The Short 2nd Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer

16) Evernight by Claudia Gray

17) Stargazer by Claudia Gray

18) Hourglass by Claudia Gray

19) The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

20) Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin

21) Recycler by Laren McLaughlin

22) The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

23) The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

24) Fallen by Lauren Kate

25) Maximum Ride: Angel Experiment by James Patterson

26) Maximum Ride: Schools out Forever by James Patterson

27) Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

28) Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

29) Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

30) Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

31) Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

32) Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris

33) Definately Dead by Charlaine Harris

34) All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

35) From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

36) Alone: Chasers by James Phelan

37) Need by Carrie Jones

38) Captivate by Carrie Jones

39) Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

40) Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

41) The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

42) Tomorrow: When the war Began by John Marsden

43) Torment by Lauren Kate

44) Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

45) Tomorrow 2: The Dead of Night by John Marsden

46) Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

47) Stolen by Kelley Armstrong

48) Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong

49) Tomorrow 3: The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden

50) Tomorrow 4: Darkness by my Friend by John Marsden

Edited to add a couple more:

51) Angel by L.A.Weatherly

52) Tomorrow 5: Burning for Revenge by John Marsden

My sister has been my main influence for the change in the type of books I've been reading and she thinks it's hilarious that she has me reading all sorts of supernatural fiction these days and a lot of what I've read has been young adult fiction which has really surprised me..... if you'd like to know more about any of these books you can check them out on my Goodreads page here.

I would also love to hear what great books you've been reading and welcome any recommendations as my to-read pile is getting quite low now!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Today the mailman delivered my SSCS parcel all the way from Canada!
So now my Secret Santa swap partner is not so secret anymore.... Kaaren of "The Painted Quilt" is my partner and if my lovely ornaments are anything to go by then I just can't wait to tear into my other parcel. Hmmm.... I may just have to ask the kids to hide it for me until Christmas so that I'm not tempted to open it early!

Not one but two cute little ornaments which have already found the perfect spots in my home :)

The bottom parcel is the one I'm trying very hard not to open....

I also received a cute little snowman note pad!

Kaaren sent a lovely note with her parcel and apologised for not being able to include a Christmas card with her gifts.... she is in the process of moving house and when I say moving house I don't just mean across town but 1000 miles away....OMG! I'm amazed she was organised enough to put a parcel together at all!

Thankyou so much Kaaren :) and thanks again to Chooky for hosting such a great swap!

About Me

I always seem to be making something, whether it's a quilt, a stitchery or some type of dress-up or special outfit for my children, Miss 14 or Master 10. If only I had time to make half the things on my to-do list I would be one very happy Lady!